Venice Louisiana, like the rest of the County has seen the daylight shortening by a minute or so for over 40 days now. Early morning comes later and the sunsets come sooner. In Venice our southerly winds have given way two or three times in as many weeks to small fronts that bring us North and North East winds which carry lower temperatures and less humidity.
August in Venice was just as it should have been which gives me certain conviction that September will carry the tradition of change and October will be a stellar month. We have an abundance of Yellow Fin Tuna in open water areas of the Gulf feeding hard on open water bait balls. This is another symbol that the fish are right on cue for an October Shrimp Boat Feeding Orgy.
YES, fall is just around the corner!
I guess the high Mississippi River kept the Green Water around all summer in Venice. Early in the summer we had some real nice grass lines and blue on green rip lines. BUT, as the river stayed high the blue water just never had the energy to push in and clean all the dirty water up. Yellow Fin Tuna fishing in green water is OK and actually most times better. But, the Mahi-Mahi and Blue Marlin were way, way out in the Canyon.
Red Snapper season was too short in Venice and IMHO the limits were too restrictive. Each day on charter we added 2 Red Snapper for every angler without any problems. This year the Cobia and Mangrove Snapper added to the fun and excitement. Cobia is a great tasting fish and a real nice surprise once on the surface. Mangrove Snapper offer a true challenge to hook and land. Mangrove's fight extremely hard, taste very good and are plentiful. Rig/Reef fishing was a lot of fun and we all hated to see the seasons close.
Fishing has remained extremely steady since the GOM oil spill. As an offshore angler I can not report any adverse effects on the specie of fish that I target.
There is a group of LDWF&P officials that fish for the same specie of fish we all catch and eat. Their program is to catch, sample, test and report findings. I am proud to say that NOT ONE sample that this group has removed from a fresh caught GOM fish has tested positive for any forms of oil related damage. 100% of the fish caught, harvested, tested and sampled have passed every test for safe consumption.
YES, Louisiana seafood is as good as it has ever been!
Good Fishing-
Captain Mike Gray
www.CajunOdysea.com
